If we use the Vendor category for internal information rather than truly using it as a vendor. Currently we use it for broad ways of describing a product such as personalized or non-personalized. Would that negatively impact SEO?
Do you mean vendor property on the product?
Yes, this will be used on the storefront, in JSON-LD structured data:
So Search Engines will see this value (containing all the wrong data).
(the link is to the older version of the theme code, newer versions use different code, but still use this field anyway).
You’d rather move this info into metafields – this would not surface where you do not want it to and you can have some data structure instead of one text field.
You can use, say, free Flow app to automate the transition.
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Just prefix the “personalized or non-personalized” with YOUR brands name or the source vendor.
Optionally make a custom vendor page that describes the differences.
In general don’t overload simple data fields that will be in SEO without a reaaaaally good reason or guidance.
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Hi @loren2,
If you’re referring to the vendor property (brand/manufacturer) in your product schema, the answer is yes. The vendor is a critical variable for product traceability; search engines like Google treat the vendor as a distinct entity to evaluate and categorize your catalog.
Labeling a vendor as “personalized” or “non-personalized” lacks semantic value. It fails to map to a recognized Organization entity, which can lead to poor indexing and negatively impact your SEO performance.
Hope this helps 
Thanks everyone for your responses, they’ve been so helpful!